


Mirror Mirror

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Y: The Last Man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-21
Updated: 2008-12-21
Packaged: 2018-01-25 02:00:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1625621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Story by Azuraa</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mirror Mirror

**Author's Note:**

> Written for anythingbutblue

 

 

(anythingbutblue's request for Y: The Last Man fic. I hope it's okay. Have never written anything in this fandom before!)

The look on my brother's face killed any urge I might've had to joke about his romantic situation with the two Beths. He was hurting. Despite all the bloody water that had gone under the bridge between us, that wasn't what I wanted. He managed to work up a smile for his daughter, but beyond that, he was ...he looked about as alive as the woman whose blood was on the floor of that cold hotel room. I hoped, when he saw Beth the First, that it would help. But he didn't so much as twitch. Beth II put the kid into his arms. She didn't ask him first, just did it. I'll admit that the girl wasn't always the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but she had her good moments. Women's intuition...always thought that was a cliché, but then, I was never one to look on the brighter side. Beth Junior was a sweet little kid, and she loved hugging people. Why not? It's not as if there were any skeezy old men around that she had to be careful not to attract. 

Yorick looked taken aback. He wouldn't push her away, though, and soon enough he and Ampersand were playing peek-a-boo with her. She actually got a laugh out of him. I went over and spoke to Beth Deville. Whispered, "Let's leave them alone for a bit." She didn't argue. She'd seemed as stunned by the idea of Yorick with another woman, and a baby's father, as he was to have realized what was up with her. So we went up on the roof of her apartment building. 

"What now?" She sounded as if she were thinking aloud, the way she'd used to do sometimes. "Shit. I don't know. But I'd guess that Yorick isn't going to stay hidden much longer. After all this? That Israeli's death, and now 355's?" I looked over at Beth. "You won't be able to keep him for yourself, you know." 

Her eyes flashed. "No, I don't know. What do you mean?" 

"Cut the crap, okay? Why do you think people with guns were chasing him? It wasn't so he could teach them the best ways to get out of a pair of handcuffs. They need him. There's a doctor, Alison Mann, who is trying to create viable clones of him and Ampersand. But that may be years away. Plus, what if something happens to her? Putting all humanity's eggs -no play on words intended--in one basket isn't smart. Do you really want to be publicly known as the only woman who has a living man partnered with her?" I laughed, and shook my head. "He's gonna have to help solve the `Zero Population Growth' problem. By whatever means. He doesn't get to sit this one out. You want to be sharing him with half the planet, girlfriend?" 

"I want to go home. I hoped he'd want to come with me." 

"The States?" 

"No," and she sounded vehement about it. "Home's been Australia for me, since the Plague hit. I--I loved it there. I don't know what the States are like, now, but..."

"It's bad," I admitted. "They're doing better, but a lot of splinter groups started grabs for territory when the government lost eighty percent of its members. You'd be better off Down Under. Or even here in Paris."

Beth started pacing. "I missed him," she said softly. "I kept hoping...I knew it should be impossible. None of the other men survived. But part of me wouldn't give up on...the ways things were. " 

"Well, welcome to Planet Earth, kiddo. That's as dead as they are. Pack it up and move on, unless you think 355's deal was a better option." 

She stopped and glared at me. "You have all the answers, is that it? What do you think you know about it, Hero? Have you ever been in love with someone, only to find out that you couldn't--`

"Beth." I cut her off. "Did anyone ever tell you that you talk too damn much?" I grabbed her arm, jerking her close to me, and kissed her. Hard. I figured, what the hell, I was probably never going to get another chance. So I'd make the most of it. Take advantage. It's what I do, right? She tasted sweet. Like honey and wine. I was - I hadn't touched anyone in over a year. I wanted. I had back when she and Yorick were dating, too, but never made a move. Now? 

Like I said, things had changed. Maybe not enough for her to forgive this, but too freaking bad. I'd live with that. I was sick of not going for what I wanted. 

I didn't expect what I got, which was for her to kiss me back. She gave as good as she got. Finally, we had to come up for air. She just blinked at me, and said, " ...huh. Jealous, were we? I wondered..."

"So now you know." I let her go, backing off. A little. "You want to go run to little brother and his lady friends and scream `assault', now's the time. Natalya might not believe you, but I'm sure he would."

"Is that what you want?" 

"Fuck if I know, Beth. I was horny, I still am, and sick of always being in third place. Or being alone." I turned my back on her. I was trying to take the mood down a notch, and I couldn't do that if I was looking at her. "Then don't." Her arms slipped around my shoulders. I nearly jumped out of my skin. Beth frowned. "Jesus, you're wired tight. What's wrong?" She didn't let go of me. "This isn't just being horny." 

I shut my eyes, and leaned in to her a little. "I ...I don't know. Or I do, but it doesn't fit into words. A lot of the last couple years ...I really, really wish I could take back. Not all but-- I lost pieces of me along the way. The edges're sharp where they broke." I heard myself, and I cringed. 

"Hero? Come back. I'm here. Whatever's happened, it's okay. Come on, look at me," she coaxed.

I reopened my eyes, glancing at her. Beth smiled, and drew me back in to her. "It's okay, " she repeated softly. Yorick and the rest finally got tired of waiting for us, and came upstairs. By then-- No, I'm not going to tell you details. Let's just say that we weren't talking by then. And no one would have thought we were being sisterly. The clothes were still on, mostly, but we weren't anything like at "arm's length." 

Natalya just smirked a little, and said something in Russian that I suspect translated to `about time!' 

He showed more restraint than I would've expected. Politeness, even. He told us that he and Beth II had decided that whatever else happened, they wanted to raise Junior together. So they were going to find a judge to marry them, first of all. He wanted his kids, or clones, to know that the person who'd fathered them, cared about them too. 

My Beth...looked hurt, disappointed, but not crushed by it. They'd both had some reality shoved down their throats. Nothing kills nostalgia and old attachments faster. 

He also felt, and Ciba and Natalya concurred, that they should get out of here ASAP. Natalya meant to escort Ciba and Vladimir to Russia. Yorick didn't want to get caught in another tug-of-war between groups wanting him. Especially not with his kid and her mother in the way, now. He and the Beths were going to sneak back to the United States. From there, they'd get in touch with the new President and make arrangements to work with the U.S. scientists on a second cloning project. 

He barely looked at me. But his last words were, "Take care of each other. Stay safe, alright?"

"I always do. Stay safe, little brother." 

Beth and I spent the next few days in Paris. I thought once the `mood' wore off, I'd want to leave again, or she'd want me to go.

Instead, she pulled something else I didn't expect. I found out she could seduce me into bed easily enough. Seems the last five years, she'd learned a few things. But she also got me drawn into the work she was doing. She told me stories about Australia and the tribes and wildlife there. 

I started asking questions. 

I liked the answers. A lot.

Finally, Beth suggested that instead of describing it to me, why didn't I come see for myself. "No strings attached," she assured me . "But it's beautiful. I really think you'd love it there. " Sneaky!

Of course, it worked. -Shhh. Even if she already knows that, let's keep it to ourselves, okay?

 


End file.
